Training Log Archive: expresso

Event: Niagara Falls Sprints
 

Scenery-O around Goat Island between the Niagara Falls. Unsurpassed awesomeness surrounding a fun course. I made two errors that cost me competitively but not ones that I'm too worried about. Still need more analysis of Sunday's race before this Sat.

GLOF O-Cross
Great ending to super meet. I'm so glad I attended as I get to see another top-notch Canadian event. Terrain, courses, arena were great.
I ran hard but made two big mistakes on this race. Somehow it didn't really bother me as I really enjoyed myself out there. Just good to be out on a map at pace. Really looking forward to USC Albany !!

GLOF 2010 Long
Lots of long legs against the grain of the long spurs afforded good route choices. Brutal, muddy climbs and a bit more green than in the postcard pictures of the event. Tough but enjoyable.
I eventually put things together but it took me a while.
1 - super long leg off right away and I stopped to get my choice right. Going right saved climb, offered more paths and a safe attack but the guys who blasted straight through had more success. Too much thinking, I guess.
2 - straight
3 - another long leg that I think I made a good choice but slogged a bit through the green. Lots of effort expended.
4 - POd about this. Ran along stream as handrail and undermapped low area and second stream split and I followed it at good clip until I hit the bottom of the escarpment. Trouble finding my error due to the map so relocated poorly and lost a couple minutes.
5 - easy
6 - tired of running through "white" woods so Laslo and I took the trail left and he ran away from me like a gazelle. Bobble at the end but route was a good choice.
7 - dumb-dumb route lost a few mins.
8 - fine but getting tired and I haven't even got my second map.
9 - gratuitous climb back to arena had me loopy and unable to remember which tree the control was hidden behind. Got my new map and felt dead but had a decent second loop.
10 - windy trail the whole way, over the big spur, easy but climby.
11 - straight, easy.
12 - trail right to avoid climb and provide safe attack.
13 - spike.
14 - contour around, easy.
15 - climb to trail, road, down, right after steep part, over spur, clean.
16 - steep, slippery initial climb killed me but well ran the rest.
17 - same killer ravine as map exchange. The only good thing about this muddy mess was that I knew I wouldn't be doing it again.
Well behind winner & Eugene. Doesn't look good but there were a lot of bright spots in there as I was in touch with my map the whole time and generally making good plans. I will take the good from this race and let the bad motivate some improvement.

Ok warmup.

Long 7 - Splits

Event: 2010 Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest
 

GLOF Sprint
Good start to the week. Ran under control and "saw" everything; surprising after not seeing real terrain since July. Did miss a route choice late and bobbled the last control. Won some Canada mittens. After yesterday's border crossing, not a big Canada fan so I need to find the Goodwill equivalent here.

GLOF Middle
Some interesting terrain at the beginning and then pretty blah course. I started poorly to 1 as I was reading the veg instead of the more reliable contours. FIne through 4 and the my common error to skip a control. Grrrrr. Found myself at 6, knowing I'd missed 5. Morale cracked and I stood their deciding how to regroup with my competitive race all but over. Decided to save my legs and walk the rest of the course and get my head back into complex maps. Map walking is an excellent drill but a bit humiliating during a race. It was the right thing to do yesterday. It will be a long race tomorrow and a long week ahead. Gotta keep the body strong and sharpen the mind.

Warm up/down. Was physically ready for both races.

Sprint 4 - Splits

Middle 7 - Splits

Easy group run. Funny realization. I have started doing both a running group and a biking group over the past coupple months; different groups from different towns. So I was jogging with a few of them today and mentioned the Wednesday bike group. Turns out, one of the guys also bikes with my group (and was even there last night) but I never realized he was the same person. I knew him as a biker and I knew him as a runner but never took enough notice. Duh!!
I was thinking that maybe it was because he's quiet and a bit nondescript. Could also be (and this probably sounds really bad) because he's a dude and not a dudette. Oh well. Regardless, I did talk to him for a while and he's very cool (for a dude).

Looks like a gorgeous weekend in Toronto. Yeah !!!!

Group ride. Fastest yet... but I am definitely slow compared to the top echelon of this group. I could hang on at any speed but not really pull my weight, although I did try my best. Includes easy warm up/down to/from OS. Felt ok; pooped now.